Dolphin

The Dolphin is a submersible aircraft used by the 00 cyborgs. In the manga it was designed and developed by both 001 and Dr. Gilmore while in at least one of the anime versions it was created by Black Ghost and was hijacked by the cyborgs.

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In the manga after the cyborgs were separated and had briefly returned to average lives, Dr. Gilmore and 001 had created the Dolphin for the coming battle against Black Ghost. It was used to transport the team to various areas including the Yomi Kingdom, where it was destroyed when it plummeted into lava.

The Dolphin's earliest appearance in animation was in the 1966 anime film. This version was the creation of Dr. Gilmore as a present to 009 to help in his final battle against Black Ghost. It is more simple and boat-like than its future versions with a gray, white and blue hull. It had very basic capabilities of being a multi-purpose vehicle with twin rocket exhausts at the stern and transformable wings for flight. Despite being the Dolphin's earliest anime incarnation, the ship's name is not mentioned in the movie.

In the sequel movie, The Dolphin underwent a refit and redesign, more closely resembling the version from the original manga. It now had its trademark red and white color scheme that would be present in most of its next incarnations.

In the 1968 series, the animators reused the same model from the second film for the black and white TV Show. Due possibly to the limitations of animation at the time, the Dolphin was not featured too prominently and was used simply to transport the 00 Cyborgs across the oceans or under the sea.

The ship was equipped with an "anti-ultrasonic deflector", a weapon that could absorb ultrasonic waves and send them back at the target to tear it apart. The ship now had its wings fold down when not in use to act as water skis, which could be folded down even further and used the propulsion in the wings to skim across the water faster. This second ski mode could be enhanced even further by activating the Super Drive, which would engage the Dolphin's rocket boosters for super high speed water travel. The only drawback to the Super Drive is that the ship moves so fast it sends anyone inside who isn't seated or holding onto something hurtling backwards into a wall or console panel upon the lurch of the engines firing up and propelling forward.

It was also equipped with twin missile launchers on the tip of each wing and a full stock of torpedoes. The Dolphin also had the bridge able to separate into a sub pod, which could jettison from the main ship. This feature was used for the 00 Cyborgs to escape as the ship was being destroyed by a powerful ultrasound wave by a kaiju due to sabotage of the deflector by Cyborg 0010. The pod also was equipped with a drill and caterpillar treads for land and subterranean exploration.

In the 2001 anime adaptation's incarnation of the Dolphin, the ship was originally a prototype developed by Black Ghost called The Black Phantom whose design was intended to be mass-produced for buyers to have combat superiority on land, sea and air. The ship was built in a dockyard under Island X, an R&D military installation. Once hijacked by the 00 Cyborgs after their escape from the island, the team rechristened it as The Dolphin (a name chosen by 003) and the ship was repainted red and white.

The Dolphin in the 2001 anime

During the Underground Empire of Yomi arc, the ship was damaged by Black Ghost dolphin robots and Cyborgmen used the hull breach to plant a bomb in the Reactor Room. The explosion caused the coolant system to fail and the ship's engines to explode, sinking it to the bottom of an ocean trench.

The incarnation of the Dolphin seen in the OVA is a solid steel gray ship more massive in proportion compared to previous designs. It is armed with large heat ray turrets for defense and has a state of the art computer system that can project a holographic data display.

The Dolphin III is the 2016 successor to the previous Dolphin ships from the manga. The ship has a highly advanced VTOL propulsion system that allows it to effortlessly take off and land. It also has a "stealth mode", which engages a cloaking device.

The Dolphin's features include jet propulsion for super sonic air travel, missile launchers, guns, torpedo bays, a hangar for aircraft and a drill tank, a galley and living quarters for the cyborgs and nuclear powered reactor for electricity and ship functions. According to 008 for the 2001 version, it is designed to be equipped for stealth from ordinary radar, presumably by using advanced radiation-absorbent material on its hull like on stealth bombers.

The Dolphin also has a laboratory and sickbay. It is often frequented by the 00 Cyborgs, who often go there to be repaired by Dr. Gilmore after sustaining injuries during a difficult battle. On a few occasions, they would also go to the sickbay due to being poisoned, incapacitated by EMP magnetic waves, and so on.